Rick and Jessica: Sightless Eyes
by Darth's Daughter
Summary: When Jessica gets caught in a fire at her school, her life is changed forever, and Rick isn't sure he can handle it. Fem!Morty
1. Chapter 1

Rick was working in the garage, as usual, when the house phone rang. He waited a few minutes to see in anyone else would answer, but when the ringing continued, he decided to answer it.

"What?" he demanded.

To his surprise, it was Summer, and it sounded like she was freaking out. "Grandpa, there's a fire at school! I can't find Jessica!"

Rick's eyes widened. "I'm on my way."

He rushed to his saucer and floored it, flying to the high school as fast as possible, hoping that he'd get there and find that Jessica and Summer were both fine and he could just bring them both home.

The saucer had barely come to a full stop when Rick jumped out, looking for Jessica or Summer.

"Grandpa!"

Rick turned to see Summer running towards him. Thankfully, she seemed alright, aside from the tears running down her face, but he didn't see Jessica anywhere. "Summer, where's Jessica?"

Summer looked over to where the ambulances and fire trucks were. "The firefighters brought her out just a minute ago... They're taking her to the hospital now."

Rick could have sword his heart stopped for a moment. "Summer, get in the saucer. We'll follow the ambulance so we can get there at the same time."

Rick and the Smith family sat in the hospital waiting room, waiting for someone to give them any news about Jessica. Summer had called Beth and Jerry on the way there, and they'd been sitting there for a while. Eventually, a nurse walked up to them. "Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Smith?"

The whole family quickly stood up, but Beth was the one to speak. "Yes, we're the Smith family. How's Jessica? Is she going to be ok?"

"She'll be fine. She'll have to stay on oxygen for a few days because of the smoke inhalation, but she can go home tomorrow." She paused, an uneasy look on her face. "But there was one effect that will be permanent."

Beth, who had begun to look relieved, became worried again. "What is it?"

"Well, unfortunately, the smoke permanently damaged her eyes. She is now completely blind."


	2. Chapter 2

Rick knocked lightly on the plain door to Jessica's hospital room. He was about to bring her home, and it was also the first time he was seeing her since the fire. He still couldn't believe she was blind. How was she going to help him, or go on adventures?

He couldn't follow that train of thought far before he heard Jessica call for him to come in. He slowly walked in and saw Jessica getting up from the hospital bed. She had a tube in her nose, hooking her up to an oxygen tank, and her eyes, formerly big, brown, and almost sickeningly sweet, were cloudy and unfocused. Rick swallowed hard. "Uh, hey, kiddo. How you doing?"

Jessica gave a small smile, as optimistic as always. "I'm feeling better. And I'm ready to get out of here."

Rick forced a short laugh. "Heh, yeah, hospitals suck." He frowned, focusing on her sightless eyes. "Uh, the saucer's outside. Ready to get out of here?"

"You know I am." She picked up a thin white cane from where it was propped up next to her bed and started to walk over, wheeling her oxygen tank behind her.

Rick's eyes focused on the cane. It wasn't all that unusual. It was thin, white, and just long enough for Jessica. But seeing it just made the reality of the situation hit harder. She was really blind. He could never show her some new wonder, or see those big brown eyes light up when she looked out the window of his saucer... Hell, she'd never see the stars again. She loved to look at the stars, and now she'd never see them again. He had seen a lot of messed up stuff, but that white piece of metal made him feel worse than almost anything else he'd ever seen.

He quickly snapped out of it and cleared his throat. "Uh, y-you need any help, kiddo?"

"No thanks, I have to learn to get around on my own. But I'll let you know if I do."

"Alright, suit yourself."

Jessica was a little slower thanks to the oxygen tank and trying to get used to moving without being able to see, but before long, and with a little help from Rick, they got to the saucer.

"Ok, now I need help," Jessica told him. "I don't think I can get this tank in the saucer on my own."

"No prob, Jess." Even though the tank was heavy, it wasn't too hard for Rick to get it into the saucer. "Alright, let's get out of here."

Rick kept glancing at Jessica as he drove them home. "So, uh, how are you dealing with... Y'know, the whole... thing?"

"You mean being blind? You can say it. It's hard, but I'll adapt. After all, I have a genius grandpa to help me."

He nearly rolled his eyes at her optimism, but decided that, as long as it helped her, he could deal with her naive cheeriness. It was better than her getting depressed.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been 3 months since the fire that took Jessica's eyesight, and things seemed to be going well. She was off the oxygen tank, she was getting used to moving around without being able to see, a special tutor was teaching her braille, and Beth was even talking about getting her a seeing eye dog. She could now tell different people's footsteps apart (Jerry's were slower and a little timid, Summer's soft and often accompanied by typing on her phone, and Beth's quick and purposeful.), and she rarely needed help anymore. The only problem: Rick.

Rick was rarely home now, and when he was, he never talked to Jessica. The only reason she even knew he was there was his footsteps, either quick and rushed, or slow and stumbling, if he'd been drinking more than usual. She had no idea why he was avoiding her, but she was determined to find out.

Even though it was past midnight, Jessica forced herself to stay awake. Rick came home every night, she heard him running out when she woke up in the mornings. So this time, she was going to wait for him. She sat on the edge of the bed, cane in her hand, until she heard his footsteps. Slower than usual, dragging a little, but he wasn't stumbling too much. So he wasn't drunk off his ass, just tired. Good, she wouldn't get anywhere if he was too drunk. She heard his bedroom door close, and got to her feet. She was careful to be very quiet as she left her room and walked to his door. She debated knocking, but she didn't want to warn him and risk him using his portal gun to leave, and she couldn't see anything anyway, so she simply opened the door.

"JESUS CHRIST, WHAT THE FUCK?!" Well, she certainly surprised him. Even without seeing him, she knew his eyes (the same chocolate brown shade her own had been) were nearly popping out of his head. "Jessica?! H-ha-haven't you ever heard of-of knocking?!"

"You've been avoiding me, a-and I didn't want to give you a chance to p-portal out of here. Speaking of which, wh-why _are_ you avoiding me?"

"I-I-I don't know wh-what you're going on- wh-what you're t-talking about."

She could hear the lie. Even before the fire she'd been fairly good at telling when he was lying, they were together too often for her not to notice that his stuttering got worse when he lied, and now that her hearing was so much better, she could hear a slight change in his voice too. "Rick, I-I know you're lying. Please just-just tell me... You haven't said more than t-two words to me since-"

Suddenly, it his her. How could she have been so stupid? "It's because I'm blind, isn't it?! Now that I can't see, you think I'm useless, and you want nothing to do with me!"

"No, that's not it!"

"Then what is it?!"

"I don't want to have to bury you, alright?! I-I-I don't want you to die because you can't see a threat and I can't get to you in time!"

Jessica went quiet a moment. "Rick... Being blind d-doesn't make me helpless... I-I can still help you, we can still go on adventures!"

"No. I-I-I'm _not_ taking that risk. If you want to help in the garage, fine, but no more adventures. Ever."

Jessica felt angry and hurt. She'd managed not to let losing her eyesight make her too upset, but this was too much. It was bad enough she could never look at a cute boy again. It was hard that she'd never be able to see the stars or some amazing new planet. But to lose her adventures with her grandpa... "If you think I'm so useless, then maybe you should get a new Morty! Maybe you'll get one that's the grandson you always wanted, and isn't freaking defective!" She rushed out before he could say anything. She always knew he thought a boy would be better, a few times when he was pissed off he'd say that a normal Morty wouldn't have made whatever mistake she'd made and complain that he got stuck with one of the few female Morties in the multiverse. Now that she was blind, he had no reason not to go get a replacement Morty. He didn't need her.


	4. Chapter 4

Rick sat on his bed, letting out a heavy sigh. Jessica wasn't entirely wrong, he _did_ decide to end their adventures because she was blind, but it was for her protection. He couldn't let her get hurt. But this avoiding her thing wasn't working. She'd just end up following him through a portal sooner or later and getting herself killed. He had no choice. If he was going to keep Jessica safe, he'd have to leave. It took an hour for him to work up the will to do just that, and when he did, he packed up everything important, picked up his portal gun, and set the coordinates to Squanchy's place. He needed to numb himself, and Squanchy had the best booze and drugs for that.

Before he left, he carefully crept to Jessica's room and peeked in. she was sleeping soundly, her long hair flopped over her face, as it usually was. Dumb kid kept her hair way too long. He carefully, silently sneaked in and brushed that soft brown hair off her round, sweet face. Fuck he loved this kid. She was so sweet and loyal... He didn't deserve a granddaughter like her. She'd be better off with him gone. He slipped out and fired a portal at the wall. After one last moment of hesitation, he left, swearing that he would never come back and screw up his family's lives again.


	5. Chapter 5

"I'm not going back."

"You really should."

"I'm not doing it."

"It is her 18th birthday. Did you not say that is the coming of age birthday for humans?"

"I know, but I'm not going back."

Rick and Bird Person had been having this argument all day. It was the day before Jessica's 18th birthday. Rick kept track of her birthdays and sent her a gift every year, but when he was out with Bird Person to find her something, he made the mistake of mentioning that it was her 18th, the day she'd be legally an adult. Bird Person suggested going back every year, but now, he wasn't letting it go.

"Rick, you don't know where she could go now that she is an adult. You shouldn't leave things as they are."

"You mean with Jessica hating me because I abandoned her when she went blind?"

"I doubt she hates you."

"She probably does. I left when she needed all the support she could get."

"Then you should go make it right."

"I said no, Pers!"

"Very well. Then you may live the rest of your life never seeing your granddaughter again and knowing you hurt her and never fixed it."

"... Fine, I'll go."

Rick stepped through the portal into his old room, surprised to see that the family had changed it. It had been turned into some kind of office, with a small desk where his bed had been, a dog bed next to that, and a few dog toys scattered around. So whoever this was for had a dog. On the desk was a laptop, with a set of yellow headphones plugged in. Feeling particularly nosy, he opened the laptop, but instead of a normal keyboard, the keys were covered in raised bumps. Braille. So this was Jessica's office now. But what the hell did she need an office for?

As he thought about that, he heard a dog bark, then a female voice spoke. "What's the matter, Desie? Do you smell something?" He stiffened as the door opened and he was faced with a short, slender young woman with short, curly brown hair that came over her eyes. Man, Jessica really grew up. At her side was a black dog, a lab if he had to guess, wearing a service dog harness, that was growling at him. "What is it, Desiree? Is someone there?"

Rick decided that he should say something before the dog killed him. "Uh, hey, Jess. It's me, Grandpa Rick."

"Rick?!" He wasn't sure what she's do. Hit him, yell at him, he had no idea. She, of course, did the one thing he hadn't planned for. She ran forward and hugged him. "OhmygodImissedyousomuch!"

He staggered back slightly, then slowly hugged back. "I missed you too, kiddo..." He pulled back and ruffled her hair. "So, why do you need a freaking office?"

"Oh, I work for a shelter that trains service dogs and matches them up with new owners. The same shelter I got Desiree from."

The dog in question had stopped growling when she determined that Rick was no threat to her owner, and was now sniffing his shoes. "Geez, did you need one this big? If she jumped on you, she'd knock you down!"

"She's a big sweetheart. and she was perfect as a first seeing eye dog."

"So, what exactly is it you do?"

"I match dogs with their owners. It's a great job, I love it."

"It's part time?"

"No, full time. I dropped out of school and got my GED."

"Smart, school's stupid."

"Yeah, it is. Besides, I couldn't go to a normal school anyway since I'm blind."

"Right... So, uh... Happy birthday."

She smiled. "Thanks. I'm glad you finally came back. I missed you a lot."

"Same here, kiddo. Now what do you say we go downstairs so I can see everyone else and get this party started?"

"Sounds awesome."


	6. Chapter 6

Rick enjoyed spending Jessica's birthday with her. At the end of the day, he promised to return soon.

Jessica never heard from her grandfather again.

Rick ended up deciding that he couldn't risk ruining Jessica's life. He spent the rest of his life traveling the multiverse, although he never forgot his granddaughter.

Jessica never knew what happened to him, but she refused to let it prevent her from living her life. She continued her work for the service dog shelter, and ended up marrying one of the trainers she worked with. A few years after their marriage, Jessica gave birth to a little boy, who she named Rick.


End file.
